When the Olympic class ships were on the drawing board, a problem presented itself. Cherbourg harbour in France was to small to accomodate liners of the massive new class. The White Star Line decided to build two small tenders to help transport passengers to the waiting ships. Nomadic and Traffic were planned and prepared at Belfast's Harland and Wolff shipbuilders yard.
Launched on April 25th, 1911, 5 days before the launch of Titanic, Nomadic measured just over 220 feet in length and weighed 1,273 tonnes. After a short period of trials, she was handed over to the White Star Line on the 27th of May, 1911, a month and two days after her launch.
Nomadic was designed to carry the First and Second class passengers and their luggage out to waiting vessels. She served the Olympic on her maiden voyage at Cherbourg on the 14th of June, 1911, and along with her sister Traffic, served Olympic 12 more times before Titanic's maiden voyage.
When Titanic arrived at Cherbourg in the early evening of April 10th, 1912, Nomadic took charge of 172 passengers, including John Jacob Astor and his very young and very pregnant wife Madeline, Benjamin Gugginheim and his misteress Madam Aubert as well as his Valet, Victor Giglio, Margaret (Molly) Brown, the Ryersons and their three children and Sir and Lady Cosmo Duff Gordon. The passengers occupied barely a fifth of her passenger capacity.
When war was declared in 1914, Nomadic and Traffic had very little to do as many were refusing to use the Atlantic for travel any more because of the threat of the German U-boats. Nomadic was requasitioned by the French government and was stationed at Brest. Her duties were much the same, but instead of passengers, she ferried troops out to the waiting ships.
By 1919 though, the war was over and once again passengers were taking to the seas. Stationed once again at Cherbourg, Nomadic continued to transport many noted celebrities out to waiting White Star Line vessles.
In 1927, Nomadic was sold to Compagnie Cherbourgeoise de Transbordement to make sure she would service only White Star Line ships. Six years later, she was again sold to Societie Cherbourgeoise de Remorque et de Sauvetage, where she was renamed Ingenieur Minard. While still at Cherbourg, she served not only White Star ships, but also those owned by different companies.
In 1939, World War was once again declared and after evacuating
British troops out of occupied France. In June 1940, the French government requasisioned her as a patrol vessel.
Ingenieur Minard was returned to Cherbourg in a terrible state of disrepair after the war. She had lost her sister, Traffic (Ingenieur Riebell), but luckily for her, she was fixed to her pre war self and once again was used as a tender, but unfortunatly, not as often as before. Cherbourg harbour has been widened, and now, Ingenieur Minard was used only when more than one liner was present.
As the age of the liners came to a close, Nomadic served her last ship, the Queen Elizabeth in November 1968 and was sold shorty afterward in full working order. In 1974, she was sold yet again, this time to Yvon Vinsent and she was towed up the Seine river in France where she was re-named Nomadic and was placed opposite Paris' Eiffel Tower to be a resteraunt.
Finally, she opened in 1977, but now she lies empty and unused, her windows and portholes smashed and paint rusting in long brown streaks down her hull side. Unfortunatly, recently, Mr Vinsent has sold Nomadic and now the vessel's future is doubt, and unless some money can be raised, the French government has advised she may have to be scrapped.
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